Electromagnetic transients as triggers in searches for gravitational waves from compact binary mergers

Understand

The detection of an electromagnetic transient which may originate from a binary neutron star merger can increase the probability that a given segment of data from the LIGO-Virgo ground-based gravitational-wave detector network contains a signal from a binary coalescence.

• Additional information contained in the electromagnetic signal, such as the sky location or distance to the source, can help rule out false alarms, and thus lower the necessary threshold for a detection.
• Here, we develop a framework for determining how much sensitivity is added to a gravitational-wave search by triggering on an electromagnetic transient.
• We apply this framework to a variety of relevant electromagnetic transients, from short GRBs to signatures of r-process heating to optical and radio orphan afterglows.